Manchester United have lost the battle to keep French teenager Paul Pogba, who has decided to join Italian club Juventus on a four-year deal. Pogba, we believe, refused to extend his contract and Ferguson made it clear before they were working on agree terms with the player, who seemed influenced by representative Mino Raiola.
Paul Pogba is the second exciting youngster to leave Old Trafford this year after Ravel Morrison was sold to newly promoted side West Ham. Although that situation was totally different, it makes you wonder if these kids know how lucky they have it. Zeki Fryers and Davide Petrucci have both been offered contract extensions but are yet to agree with means they might be added to the list of youngsters heading through the exit door.
However, the 19-year-old is used to being involved in dramatic situations. In 2009, Manchester United signed Pogba from Le Havre. HAC have a youth academy system that can be compared with the best, i.e, Barcelona, Ajax and Bayern Munich. Some of the players that came through their ranks are currently playing at the peak of European football. Particularly Lassana Diarra, the Real Madrid midfielder.
When Pogba signed for Manchester, Le Havre published an article on their official website titled “United steal Pogba from HAC.” This was an over-exaggeration from Jean Pierre Louvel, the club’s president that hit out at “those robbers from England.” Whereas if Louvel actually did his homework he would have known Pogba signed an non-solicitation contract. These types of contracts only protect clubs like HAC from losing players to other French outfits, not clubs from different countries like United.
That was chapter 1 of Pogba’s career. The latest addition of that book has came quicker than expected after snubbing a contract from United to join Juventus. An odd move but at least Ferguson did all he could to keep him. Pogba didn’t listen, so I hope he realises soon that it’s always downhill after United.
I wrote something on the subject earlier in the season after we lost Ravel and again when it became clear that we were likely to lose Pogba as well.
Let’s be clear here. Moving to the Italian champions is hardly a terrible career move. He is well within his rights to seek that move if he’s not getting game time at United. A lot was said about the talent of Pogba by a lot of people at United, yet he still wasn’t given even the slightest chance to prove himself even when Cleverley, Fletcher and Anderson suffered long term injuries.
To put it into perspective, United preferred to call a 37 year old out of retirement than give Pogba a proper go. I’m not saying Pogba should have been given a go, because if he wasn’t, it must mean the coaches thought he wasn’t ready/good enough yet, but from Pogba’s perspective you can understand why that would be hard to accept.
It is unreasonable to expect unquestioning loyalty from a young lad like Pogba. He came to United from France, and was only at the club for what, 4 years?
Never said moving to Juventus was a terrible move. It just struck he as being strange when he already knew what the story was at United. Before breaking into the first team you must prove yourself… Just look at Welbeck and Cleverley, who both took their chances when given. Although, Tom still have a lot to prove.
I didn’t get to see much of the reserves this season due to other commitments but after speaking with Doron Saloman, I learned Pogba didn’t live up to the standards he set the year before, therefore, he hardly expected to be played ahead of players already in the team.
Ferguson worked hard to convince Pogba which showed the player himself United held him in high regard. It looked like Pogba was going to be a real star at United in the future but impatience ruined that.
At the end of the day, I’m sorry to see him go. Pogba is a real prospect that, if given the chance, will probably come back to bite us in the arse. Big ask though. Everything was set up for him at United.
I wrote something on the subject earlier in the season after we lost Ravel and again when it became clear that we were likely to lose Pogba as well.
Let’s be clear here. Moving to the Italian champions is hardly a terrible career move. He is well within his rights to seek that move if he’s not getting game time at United. A lot was said about the talent of Pogba by a lot of people at United, yet he still wasn’t given even the slightest chance to prove himself even when Cleverley, Fletcher and Anderson suffered long term injuries.
To put it into perspective, United preferred to call a 37 year old out of retirement than give Pogba a proper go. I’m not saying Pogba should have been given a go, because if he wasn’t, it must mean the coaches thought he wasn’t ready/good enough yet, but from Pogba’s perspective you can understand why that would be hard to accept.
It is unreasonable to expect unquestioning loyalty from a young lad like Pogba. He came to United from France, and was only at the club for what, 4 years?
Never said moving to Juventus was a terrible move. It just struck he as being strange when he already knew what the story was at United. Before breaking into the first team you must prove yourself… Just look at Welbeck and Cleverley, who both took their chances when given. Although, Tom still have a lot to prove.
I didn’t get to see much of the reserves this season due to other commitments but after speaking with Doron Saloman, I learned Pogba didn’t live up to the standards he set the year before, therefore, he hardly expected to be played ahead of players already in the team.
Ferguson worked hard to convince Pogba which showed the player himself United held him in high regard. It looked like Pogba was going to be a real star at United in the future but impatience ruined that.
At the end of the day, I’m sorry to see him go. Pogba is a real prospect that, if given the chance, will probably come back to bite us in the arse. Big ask though. Everything was set up for him at United.
I will add though, that the lack of faith shown by some of the youngsters is disappointing, but they all have a right to move on if first team football is available elsewhere.
I will add though, that the lack of faith shown by some of the youngsters is disappointing, but they all have a right to move on if first team football is available elsewhere.
Talented or not, with his self-imagined higher qualities, he’ll be better off with a team composed of other prima donnas than with a true team.
Talented or not, with his self-imagined higher qualities, he’ll be better off with a team composed of other prima donnas than with a true team.
Some players have so much belief in their ability that they start to believe that they are better than what they actually are, especially when people hype them too much. Having seen quite a lot of him this season in the reserves and first team, it seemed to me that he was in an awkward (and admittedly frustrating) part of his career, where the reserves almost seemed to easy for him, where he was clearly better than the players he was playing with and against, but he was no where near being a regular in the first team. Unfortunate, because given our clear need for a central midfielder, in a couple of years I truly believe he would have been a regular. Although I do believe the one game where he should have started for us this year, given the injuries we had, was against Blackburn at home. Rafeal real looked out of place in CM. From what I remember (might be wrong) Pogba was the only natural CM we had in our squad that day, maybe that was a crucial part of his decision, maybe he thought if the manager doesn’t have enough faith in him to play ahead of Park and Rafael at this stage he might have to wait to long to play in the big games. Who knows. Good luck to him, hope he doesn’t come back to haunt us though.
Some players have so much belief in their ability that they start to believe that they are better than what they actually are, especially when people hype them too much. Having seen quite a lot of him this season in the reserves and first team, it seemed to me that he was in an awkward (and admittedly frustrating) part of his career, where the reserves almost seemed to easy for him, where he was clearly better than the players he was playing with and against, but he was no where near being a regular in the first team. Unfortunate, because given our clear need for a central midfielder, in a couple of years I truly believe he would have been a regular. Although I do believe the one game where he should have started for us this year, given the injuries we had, was against Blackburn at home. Rafeal real looked out of place in CM. From what I remember (might be wrong) Pogba was the only natural CM we had in our squad that day, maybe that was a crucial part of his decision, maybe he thought if the manager doesn’t have enough faith in him to play ahead of Park and Rafael at this stage he might have to wait to long to play in the big games. Who knows. Good luck to him, hope he doesn’t come back to haunt us though.